Gawd - it's 5.45 am - I went to bed at 12, got woken up by a motorbike revving outside at 1.30 and have been lying awake since then. I am so tired - my head's a shed and I have to work today teaching classes til 6.30. Feeling more than a bit panicky! This was with st johns wort, and kalms last night... insomnia is my worst (waking) nightmare.... can anyone give me some advice or idea of how long it might take to sort itself out... not a good day, today

That is a bit reassuring - the fact it started quite late into your quit. Information I'd read seemed to say it'd be the first week or so - so this can still be a symptom not just me going mad!. Generally I lay off caffeine altogether after 2 coffees in the morning - today though, i can't see how that'd work!!

No great advice from me, I'm afraid, but a whole bunch of empathy - I spent over 6 hours staring at the ceiling last night, so I am currently feeling your pain!

Insomnia has been my worst enemy since childhood - I just don't seem to have that 'off' button in my brain that other folk have. Exercise helps a bit, but you have to be careful not to do it too late in the evening (after about 8pm is too late for me) or it has the opposite effect.

Bought some Kalms tablets on my way in to work this morning - really hope they work, otherwise mine's a large glass of Pinot Grigio tonight!

cant offer any other advice, other than the kalms which you're already onto. I suffered but it went away within a few weeks. You are on week three which can be a bit of a bugger of a week anyway. Try and get an afternoon kip at the weekend, maybe that will help bring things back onto balance?

Not as far as you lot, only on day 5 and having a bit of a rough day, but went to pharmasist yesterday and got some nytol, its only low dose anthihistamine but really works and I am on antidepresssants, have a skin problem so take medicine for that and it doesn't have any adverse reactions with any of those. Bit of a strange feeling at first as limbs went to sleep before mind, but mind soon caught up!!

Hope your sleep get better, if you like lavender then a few squirts of boots sleepy head spray can help relaxation, especially as I can now smell it properly wiothout the cigarettes!!

Went to bed at 11.30pm, Up at 1.30am and totally buzzing! As if I had had 10 coffees!

Then wide awake for hours on end and you just start to nod off when your alarm goes off! Now, a rubbish day at work follows and you long for a good nights sleep. Crawl into bed, out like a light and around 1 measly hour later...PING...you're wide awake again! Arrrrgh! Its horrible just thinking about it!

Ways to battle it....

1. No caffeine. Try Camomile Tea, great relaxant.

2. No alcohol - at all.

3. No food atleast 3 hours before bedtime. If your tummy starts rumbling, have a glass of warm milk, to settle the stomach.

4. Try some moderate/strenuous exercise around late afternoon, preferably outside with lung fulls of fresh air!

5. Yoga/meditation.This does the job of kalms/sleeping pills but requires you to look a bit silly for a while as you clear your body and mind naturally. (its not for everyone)

6. Pen and paper...write down everything that is on your mind in an evening and note everything you need to do tomorrow and important things over the next few days. This tricks your brain into thinking "thats sorted" even though its not. Hence, one less thing on your mind.

7. Remove any distraction from your bedroom. A bedroom should be a place for sleep and sleep only (along with other bed related activities :rolleyes:). Anything else is a distraction to your quality of sleep. If your OH is a snorer, this means removing them too!

8. Fresh bedding and a squirt of lavender essence on the pillow works wonders for relaxing and drifting off.

The insomnia is caused through your brain adapting to not having Nicotine anymore! Sleeping pills do work well for some people - but remember you are replacing one drug with another using sleeping pills and they can become HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!!! :eek:

I would use them only as a last resort and contact your GP if your insomnia persists. But like everything in Smoking cessation - its only temporary!!!

Its just when you're awake all the time...it seems like forever, and you start to feel as if your going crazy!

For me it lasted 2 or 3 nights and then I started to get more sleep and a return to feeling a bit more human.

I had it really bad, i got pretty bad and couldn't decide whether to mope or be teasy, one thing for sure i was not going back to sleep, i tried everything, i mean EVERYTHING imaginable.

So i got up wqacked the kettle on, stuck some grotty clothes on, panda eyes still on and went up to see my horses, fed them, gave them some big lovings, sat there, watched the morning sun come up and wow isn't it beautiful. What a graet time opf day. And yes i was tired during the days, in the end your body gets so tired it needs to sleep.

Thanks everyone for the support and the advice. Last night i did a combination of lots - half hour jog, cleaned my room, nice walm bath and a nytol..eight and a half hours later I feel loads more normal! It's so nice to know that this is all normal and other people have the same things happen to them.

I think you're both right Dave and Angel, the nytol isn't the way to go and need to do it naturally not just with another drug - but on a school night being awake all night just isn't an option... was incapable of dealing with a room full of students yesterday! Gonna do that over the weekend, so if I'm out jogging when the sun comes up tomorrow I'll think of you both!

During the first stages of your quit you'll experience these things, just have to grit it out and get through it. I personally found that night nurse helped me get to sleep, try not to have any caffeine a few hours before bed.

And look forward to the fact that once you've happily quit and consider yourself a non-smoker you will have the best sleep you've potentially ever had in years!